– country’s thriving agri, mining sectors highlighted

By Tamica Garnett
VLISSENGEN Road and CARIFESTA Avenue were buzzing with excitement on Sunday when Guyanese of all ages, ethnicities and varying backgrounds came out in massive numbers to participate in the highly anticipated Mashramani Costume and Float Parade in celebration of the country’s Golden Jubilee Republic Anniversary.

The participants, drawn from both governmental and non-governmental organisations, bought to the fore strong themes that addressed areas of unity, diversity, and development.

Even the country’s two major political parties – A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) were not to be left out of the celebration of unity and togetherness.

Revelling with the APNU+AFC band, Berbician Parmanand Ram described the day as a very exciting one. Also with that band was Quincy Jones, who noted that the revellers were encouraged to be a part of the APNU+AFC ahead of the March 2, 2020 Elections. “The supporters are hyped and they’re very proud of the accomplishments of the APNU+AFC government,” Jones said.

With some 60 revellers in tow, the East-Corentyne Berbice (Region 6) Mash Band was entered in the medium band category, and took the opportunity to showcase some of that district’s economic activities.

The band’s representative Godwyn Allicock boasted that the group secured the top spot in the category for the past two consecutive years, and was out looking to defend its title.
“We have on show our main produce in Berbice, which [are] sugar cane and rice. We have some of the revellers in gold and green, while most of our revellers have all five of the colours of our national flag,” Allicock shared.

Also from the Berbice Region was the Mash Band for the New Amsterdam Mayor and Town Council which paid homage to the Golden Arrowhead.

The Ministry of Agriculture had many onlookers joining in for one of their choreographed dance that went along with their band as they trekked the distance from CARIFESTA Avenue to the Durban Park.

The ministry has been promoting domestic farming for some time now, and it continued in that stride in its theme for its Mash band.

“You could see the arch where we have the bora vine. Then there are pods where we get the seedlings. We have pepper, tomato, callaloo. And we have a little kitchen coop that represents livestock,” one of the band’s representatives shared, as she described one of the band’s main floats.

The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs (MoIPA) also had a well-choreographed dance that went along with its band, which also received much praise from the spectators.
The MoIPA was entered in the small bands category, and celebrated under the sub-theme “energy generation.”

“We are depicting all of what Guyana has to give in terms of the way of life of the Indigenous peoples. The ‘King’ float shows the indigenous hunting, eating and preparation. I came up with the idea for entertainment so I used the words of the songs to create dance moves, and incorporated some indigenous dancing,” noted a representative from that Ministry.

Stephon Gabriel, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), said this year the Ministry’s band focused on sustainable mining.

“We know that the natural resources sector is the extractive sector and we want to ensure that we not only explore, and develop but sustain our nation’s patrimony. Sustainable mining practices are what we’re focusing on heading into a Decade of Development. In the float today we have the guardian which is the ‘Queen’ float. That’s our gift to Mother Nature. For sustainable energy resources we have our solar energy, wind energy and we harness these energies and present them to Mother Earth,” Gabriel shared.